An everyday tale of family and political life with a dollop of Formula One and various random thoughts on the side.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Save us from Stupid Sportsmen

What is it about being horrendously overpaid that can bring out the worst in people?

We've already seen bankers bring the global economy to its knees and now we have F1's Lewis Hamilton and Scottish footballers Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor hitting the headlines for being complete and utter prats.

You would think Hamilton would have been satisfied with fourth place after a dismal start in a, frankly, rubbish car. Instead, he and McLaren senior manager Dave Ryan feed a complete cock and bull story to the Stewards to try to wrest 3rd place from Toyota's Jarno Trulli. Trouble is conversations recorded on Team Radio gave the lie to what they were saying and Lewis was summarily disqualified.

Now, I am as soft as they come and will usually find some way to try to see the other point of view. I can understand that when Lewis got out of the car on Sunday he'd be knackered and shaken after a gruelling race. I also know that he has been with McLaren since he was a wee boy and his natural instinct would be to follow the team's lead. However on this occasion I don't think he has any excuse - what he did was dishonest and unethical as well as terminally stupid. I hope the FIA throws the book at both him and McLaren.

Further down the food chain, we have the matter of Messrs Ferguson and McGregor's wee post match piss-up which seemed to last until the start of the morning training session last Sunday. Not surprisingly, the boss went mad and benched them for Wednesday's match. The two lads thought it would be funny to sit there making not so subtle gestures from the touchline. I have to say that I initially thought that the punishment of a lifetime ban from playing for Scotland was a bit harsh (see, told you I was soft), but their attitude and apologies were so insincere and to my mind self seeking that they deserve everything they get.

Maybe, if they behave themselves in future, apologise in a way that means that they understand how disrespectfully and appallingly they treated the honour of representing their country, then the SFA might rethink, but they deserve everything they get at the moment.